How do you win a game of Monopoly?
Monopoly might be as American as apple pie. And winning the game involves a deeply capitalist, American pursuit: Become the wealthiest player by buying properties – and crush opponents by forcing them to pay rent over and over.
True or false: Monopoly was invented during the Great Depression by an unemployed man who came up with the game to pass the time.
For a long time, this was the rags-to-riches Monopoly myth printed in the game’s instructions. But it wasn’t true! The very first version of the game was patented in 1904 by a woman named Lizzie Magie. She was a stenographer, poet, thespian, women’s suffrage advocate, and board game maker. She patented the game, which featured things like the phrase “Go to Jail” and being able to buy railroads.
What was the original name Lizzie Magie came up with for the board game that would become Monopoly?
From its inception, the game was about living out ruthless capitalist fantasies. But Lizzie Magie dreamed of a different world. She wrote a second rule set for the game – an anti-monopolist version that never quite caught on. The anti-monopolist version rewarded every player when wealth was created. An all for one, one for all kind of thing.
Context matters. What was happening in the early 20th century U.S. that influenced the development of The Landlord’s Game?
The Landlord’s Game was patented in 1904. Tycoons like John D. Rockefeller, J.P Morgan and Andrew Carnegie owned monopolies, and were making a killing in their respective industries. Adjusted for inflation, some of these late 19th and early 20th century billionaires were even richer than the infamous billionaires of today.
The board game that became Monopoly was based on something called the single-tax theory. That was dreamed up by a man named Henry George. What was single-tax theory?
Dreaming up different tax infrastructure might not be everybody’s idea of a good time – but Henry George wouldn’t have it any other way. He thought taxing landowners would eliminate inequality, which he saw as one of the country’s biggest problems. And Lizzie Magie agreed, enough to serve as secretary of the Woman’s Single Tax Club of Washington and to base her board game off the idea.
After Lizzie Magie patented her game in 1904, it spread like wildfire. Which is NOT true about the game’s early popularity?
Lizzie Magie’s game was all the rage. Some Quakers found it so captivating, they played it in secret – since dice games were considered taboo by Quakers back then. Unfortunately, the frenzy didn’t translate into riches for Lizzie Magie. She was nowhere close to having a monopoly over the board game scene.
How much did the Parker Brothers game company pay to acquire the rights to Lizzie Magie’s board game patent?
I know what you’re thinking, and no, $500 wasn’t much even back then. In today’s money, that’s around $11,000. And that’s the tragedy of the story – Lizzie Magie sold the rights to her brainchild for mere pennies compared to what the game would make over the next century.
Monopoly remains one of the best-selling board games in history. Which of the following is true about how Monopoly spread across the world over the last century?
Monopoly has traveled the world. During WWII, Allied forces would send Monopoly games as care packages to prisoners in German POW camps. It wasn’t an attempt at entertainment, though, it was an escape plan. Hidden in the game were escape kits – compasses, money and maps!
The iconic Mr. Monopoly character was used as a symbol during which protest movement?
Don’t be fooled by that gentle mustache, Mr. Monopoly is the 1%! HE REPRESENTS THE BILLIONAIRES! Or at least he did during Occupy Wall Street – the movement to protest economic inequality that grew out of the 2008 housing market collapse, which left many Americans in dire economic straits.
Despite her obscurity at the time, what legacy did Lizzie Magie leave behind?
Lizzie Magie was a jack-of-all-trades, and the Landlord’s Game was not her only creation! She also patented a device for stenography and went on to invent other less popular board games. At the time of her death, in 1948, she remained largely uncredited for her contributions to board games and American culture.
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